Friday here today and Grand Final day at home ..Hawthorn v Sydney I dont really mind who wins as I dont care for either team. I am just focussing on tomorrows game Melboune Storm v Bulldogs..Go the Mighty Storm !!
We had a fantastic day today, left the hotel at 0730 and half way down the lane Michael realised he had forgotten his passport !! So back we go . Freddy ran with him so they were quicker. Then when we took off again we got stuck behing 4 Petrol tankers going through the small town of Ollantaytambo they kept getting stuck on the hairpin bends and had to back up, all traffic coming the other way was held up on the town square..Fernando and Freddy our local guide were freaking out about missing the train and Michael who had forgotten his passport had offered to buy everyone lunch if we missed it. Eventually we made it to the station and got our train with not a lot of time to spare.
there are a few more people sick today, Fernando has perked up a bit, Bo has the headaches, both David and Arlene the same , Julie as well a bit dodgy. As for me I have started getting the tingles which is a side effect of the Diamox, as well as aching muscles. It was in my feet and hands and now my face, so I have cut back to just a half tablet morning and night. I am too scared to stop taking them but if the side effects dont ease up I may have to.. Bloody Peter has nothing !!!
Anyway back to my day . We caught the train up to Machu Picchu at 0830, the trip takes about 90 minutesand they serve Morning tea, we all had the Coca tea. The view up was wonderful, we saw people hiking along the Inca Trail, its a 5 day trek up there, the train stopped to let people off who were doing the 1 day trek..
Once we arrived in the town of Machu Picchu we wandered through the market place but were not allowed to shop as we had to get to the buses. Once on the bus it was a 30 minute ride up a narrow dirt road with hairpin bends all the way and the buses dont go slow, I guess the more trips they do the more money they make...When we arrived at the ruins there were people EVERYWHERE..I thought oh no this is going to be crappy with so many people.
Anyway Freddy our local guide took up straight up to the top where we got photos of the overview of the Machu Picchu ruins..Its amazing. It also leaves you thinking about how the hell they built it. Its something you dream about..going to a place like that..breath taking.. Considering how old it is, its in excellent condition ..mostly the only things missing were the roofs but as they were made3 from straw thats understandable. Freddy managed to take us over the ruins and avoid most of the people so we were able to take photos without too many people in them ..I was really pleased with the photos. The sonework the Incas used was mind blowing, so perfectly cut straight and each block fitting perfectly into the next. Amazing, they had a calendar stone like a sun dial and it was made to read exactly 13 dgrees latitude or something which is the exact location of the site..How on earth did they work that out ???
One portion of a wall had started to split away so they had Japanese scientists come and do some exploration as Peru couldnt afford to do it.. When they dug beneath the wall of rock they found the wall was sitting on rollers which like flex the wall if theres an earthquake. Upon more research they found the site was built on a fault line and the line ran straight through that wall.
Anyway it was a great day and we took some great photos and I was covered with Mozzie bites when we came down...We had a quick buffet lunch before getting on the Crazy bus to go back down the mountain to the town. We walked back through the markets and bought our momentos, Peter bought a beautiful rug and a wall hanging rug.. he obviously has more room than I do..
On the train trip back up the mountain to the "O" place..the railway staff had a fashion parade of the beautiful Alpacca clothes..I think I could have bought one of everything they were so beautiful but I was decidedly good.
By the end of the day Arlene had come down crook and so had Angelique, Julie is also sick still, so the high Altitude is playing havoc still.
2 more sleeps and we are back to Lima and hopefully back to normal, fingers crossed anyway.......